Thirteen Fourteen

Today Thirteen turned Fourteen.  Gosh, I feel so grown up having a Fourteen year old!!

It was very hard knowing what to buy her for her birthday so we took her shopping and let her choose everything herself.  Plus  she’s too grown up for a kiddy party so is having friends round ‘to chill’ at the weekend.  Add to that the fact that she didn’t want to go out and eat with us because she ‘doesn’t really like going out to dinner’ and hey presto, everything conspires to make me feel slightly inadequate as a parent.

We used to do such exciting things for her birthdays and were always so involved.  A Belgian chocolate workshop one year, limousine hire for an hour on her 9th, innumerable birthday parties before that with games and jelly and ice cream and party bags to take home… so much preparation beforehand and clearing up afterwards really made the whole episode huge.  Now I feel like a parent on the fringes looking in through the window.   Well, afterall, she is growing up and we just have to accept that.

Travelling to school today she wore the birthday hat – shaped like a cake and covered with candles – and managed to persuade the bus driver to let her travel for free for her birthday.  When he demanded proof, she just pointed at the hat, which did the trick nicely!

Growing up fast she may be but she still took Avon crisp to school to share with her friends and has gone to bed with her new panda duvet cover!